Under the Microscope

One complication
for researchers: No two charters are alike, and there are vastly
different expectations for what they can accomplish.

Are Students Learning?

Experts say the next wave of research will look at how well students
in charter schools are learning. State-mandated evaluations are under
way in Arizona, Colorado, and Minnesota, and Central Michigan
University is studying the 40 schools it has chartered in that
state.

In fact, a few examples of whether charter schools are meeting their
academic goals already exist. A handful of schools--five in Minnesota,
one in California, and one in Colorado--have completed their first few
years and have had their charters renewed--an indication that they have
met the performance goals set for them.

For example, the New Visions School in Minneapolis, which focuses on
improving the reading skills of children with learning disabilities,
was able to show increases in both vocabulary and reading comprehension
scores during its first two years of operation.

Like many issues related to charter schools, however, the
achievement question is far from simple. Researchers say that charters
pose serious challenges for anyone trying to measure and catalog
them.

No two charters are alike, and there are vastly different
expectations for what they can accomplish, said Pat Seppanen, an
associate director of the research center at the University of
Minnesota.

And if it's tough to study charters by themselves, experts say, it
is even harder to compare them with traditional schools.

Some charter schools, such as the one that serves only deaf students
in Minneapolis, are so different that they defy comparison with other
schools. There are also charters for home-schooled students, on-line
computer schools, and schools that serve only juveniles who have been
convicted of crimes.

And if students in charter schools don't take the same tests as
their counterparts in regular schools, as is the case in some states,
how can you compare performance?

"It's a tricky thing," said Lori Mulholland, a senior research
analyst at the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State
University in Tempe. "No matter what measure you use, it's going to be
criticized."

Target of Criticism

Criticism is something that researchers who have studied charter
schools have had to get used to.

"I don't hate charter schools. I don't love charter schools," said
Amy Stuart Wells, an assistant professor of education policy at the
University of California, Los Angeles. But, she added, "you get blasted
if you just raise interesting questions."

Ms. Wells angered charter supporters last year with a paper she
presented at an American Educational Research Association conference in
San Francisco. She used census data to conclude that charter schools in
three California districts predominantly existed in wealthy
neighborhoods where parents had high educational levels.

Poorer communities, she suggested, were possibly being excluded from
the movement because they lacked the resources to organize a charter
school.

Critics jumped on Ms. Wells' work, arguing that her methods did not
always pinpoint the precise location of the schools, and that location
often had little to do with whether the schools served low-income or
minority students.

Ronald Corwin, a researcher at WestEd in San Francisco, one of 10
federally funded regional education labs, has also felt the heat.

Observers have
already raised concerns about the study because some researchers on
the project are strong advocates of charter schools.

He drew criticism from charter supporters for a study he led in
1995. In it, he asked whether charter schools that require some level
of parent participation, such as a certain number of volunteer hours
per week, deny admission to children whose parents can't make the
commitment.

The issue was "blown out of proportion," Mr. Corwin said in a recent
interview, especially since his study concluded that, overall, charter
schools were doing a good job of including parents.

Questions of Objectivity

Some observers have already raised concerns about the massive,
federally supported study being undertaken by RPP International,
because some researchers on the project--notably Mr. Nathan--are strong
advocates of charter schools. The research team also includes Wayne
Jennings, a charter school organizer in Minnesota, and Eric Premack,
the director of the Charter Schools Project at the Institute for
Education Reform in Sacramento, Calif., who spends some of his time
providing technical assistance to new charter schools.

Joan Buckley, the associate director of the educational issues
department at the American Federation of Teachers and a member of an
advisory board appointed to oversee the federal study, is concerned
that the charter advocates won't be able to view such schools
objectively.

"If there is an attempt to not disclose all of the information in
the study because they think it will put charter schools in an
unfavorable light, I will leave the board," said Ms. Buckley, who is
also involved in a charter school research project at the AFT.

She wonders whether the board, a balanced group of charter
supporters, union representatives, and highly respected researchers,
will have much influence on RPP's work.

Patricia M. Lines, the director of the project at the Education
Department, said the subcontractors are not violating the department's
ethical standards. And Paul Berman, the president of RPP International,
said the company has worked hard to design a neutral study strong
enough to withstand the biases of a few members of the team.

Mr. Nathan, he said, is working as an "internal adviser" who
understands the advocates' positions and contributes extensive
knowledge of the subject. He won't be doing any of the actual research,
Mr. Berman said. Mr. Premack and Mr. Jennings, he added, are doing some
of the field work, but will not be going to the schools where they have
been involved.

In addition to the annual telephone survey and the site visits,
which will pick up new schools as they open, the researchers will
collect several different measures of achievement, including a
curriculum-based, multiple-choice test developed specifically for the
study.

The study will compare the achievement of charter school students
against national norms and with that of comparable students in
traditional public schools. Researchers also expect to answer questions
about how charter schools work, how they affect both public and private
schools, and how local, state, and federal policies help or hinder
their progress. A final report is due at the end of 1999.

Getting an Inside View

Researchers say
they've often gotten the cold shoulder.

Researchers who have chosen to brave the roiling political waters
surrounding charter schools have often found yet another obstacle
impeding their work--the educators in those schools.

Researchers say they've often gotten the cold shoulder from
administrators who, in many cases, have been pestered from day one with
surveys, requests for interviews, and tour groups wandering through the
hallways.

Mr. Rofes said he tries to avoid the more high-profile schools.
Beryl Nelson, one of the researchers at RPP International, said that
she and her colleagues "took some heat" before a few schools in their
sample agreed to give the achievement test and open their doors to more
visitors.

But in-depth case studies, often used by graduate and doctoral
students, are considered vital to understanding charter schools. They
often provide the best details and descriptions of what happens in a
school: its culture, instructional styles, and the relationships
between students, teachers, and parents.

Cindy Grutzik, a doctoral student at the University of California,
Los Angeles, spends a couple of days a week in two charter schools,
interviewing teachers, attending staff meetings, and observing
classrooms. She wants to know whether teachers' experiences are meeting
their expectations. Her early results show that most teachers say the
change has been difficult but positive.

"It seems that people understand that hard work comes along with
this kind of situation," Ms. Grutzik said.

Ms. Grutzik, a former elementary school teacher, said she settled on
charter schools as a research topic because she wanted to see how
education policy affects teachers. When interviewing teachers for her
study, she asks them about their responsibilities at the school, their
relationship with the union, and how their charter school experience
compares with past teaching positions.

The evolving relationship between charter school teachers and unions
is one topic being examined by the National Education Association,
which has hired Ms. Wells to do some of that research.

"The basic question is, what is the changing role of the union, and
how does the union need to change to accommodate the kind of autonomy
that teachers want?" she said.

Ms. Buckley is one of three AFT staff members involved in a charter
school project that will examine a range of issues, including teacher
demographics, teacher turnover, student attendance, and mobility. A
report is due in July.

Broader Change?

Of course, the crucial question about charter schools is whether
they will truly transform public education as a whole. One of the
tenets of the charter movement is that the success of the independent
schools will force traditional schools to improve and provide more
options to avoid losing their students.

The crucial
question about charter schools is whether they will truly transform
public education as a whole.

Experts say it may take years to answer that question.

And, as with many issues surrounding charters, the issue isn't a
simple one.

Both the wording of state charter laws and decisions school boards
and other institutions make when considering charter applications will
influence the potential of charter schools for producing broader
change, experts say.

Some laws, for example, give preference to proposals for charters
aimed at disadvantaged or other at-risk students.

Given that, some observers wonder how charters can spur broader
change if they primarily serve special populations of students that
regular schools struggle to educate anyway.

And the fact that in some states, school boards are the only
chartering authorities could limit their influence, Ms. Bierlein said.
School board members are more likely to grant charters to schools that
don't create competition, she argues.

But in states such as Arizona, Massachusetts, and Michigan, where
other agencies such as universities and the state board of education
are the sponsors, charter schools are beginning to resemble traditional
schools, Ms. Bierlein added.

Instead of waiting for someone to test these theories, the
Washington-based Center for Education Reform is gathering specific
examples of the ways charter schools have made a difference. Jeanne
Allen, the president of the organization and a school choice advocate,
said the report also will include charter school failures.

It's a Values Thing

As more researchers turn to charter schools, the results of their
work will likely influence future political decisions--such as whether
to give charter schools money for start-up expenses or facilities.

But ultimately, Mr. Nathan argues, some issues can't be answered
with a study.

"I think that research can help us understand what are the best ways
to establish these schools and what are the mistakes to avoid," he
said. "But I do believe the expansion of choice in public education at
the bottom line is a values issue."

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